The Captain of the Lord's Host, Part 2b

We told you last week that what Joshua faced was the pre-incarnate Christ. The man whose sword was drawn was the captain of the Lord's host. This was God revealing him to Joshua in the form of a man. But there were other times before this that our Lord appeared. We talked about it last week. Remember Genesis chapter 16 to Hagar when she left Abraham and Sarah's house because Sarah kicked her out because she had conceived. Abraham's child, and Sarah was very jealous, but God met her, didn't he? God came to her, and she heard the voice of God, and God demonstrated his loving kind and compassion toward Hagar.

And God will manifest him in the form of a man again in that Christophany where Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ, would manifest him again, but he would do it to Jacob this time. Jacob. But what he does is so significant that it helps us understand what it is God wants to do in your life and my life and it will answer the question, why is it I go down to defeat when I've done everything I can to prepare for the battle I still seem to be losing? And Genesis chapter 32 gives us that answer as we begin to understand this one, this pre-incarnate Christ who comes and literally wrestles.

With Jacob. Now, listen to what the Bible says. Verse 11: Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and attack me. The mothers with the children, for thou didst say, I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as a sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. He comes and asks for God's protection. Oh God, deliver me. Now, our God is a delivering God and a savior of people. So so Jacob appeals to him based on the fact that he is the deliverer and says, God, I need you to deliver me.

So we got a great prayer here. I mean, this guy's on fire when it comes to prayer. He knows exactly what to do. He knows his position. He knows the power of God. Understand the promises of God and he goes after it that way. That 's a great prayer. That 's how it ought to be, right? Thank you. And so, what do we have? We have a man. Who tries to manipulate the events, realizes that the events are greater than his manipulative techniques, and begins to pray to God. Now you think, okay, now he's trusting God.

Now he's going to work with God. And now he's going to depend upon God, right? Wrong. Verse 13. So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had. With him a pres for his brother Esau, two hundred female goats. 20 male goats, 200 ewes and 20 rams, 30 milking camels and their colts, 40 cows and 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 male donkeys. And he delivered them into the hand of his servants. Every drove by itself, and said to his servants, Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.

And he commanded the one in front, saying, when my brother Esau meets you and ask you, saying, To whom do you belong, and where are you going? And to whom do these animals in front of you belong, then you shall say, these belong to your servant Jacob. Jacob, it is a present sent to my Lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us. Then he commanded also the second and the third and all those who followed the drove, saying, After this manner, you shall speak to Esau.

When you find him, and you shall say, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us, for he said, I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face, perhaps he will. Will ac me. So here he is on his knees, praying to God, asking all the right things, doing exactly what he needs to be doing, gets up off of his knees and now begins to orchestrate once again the Events to bring about his purposes to devise this gift, this present, as he said, to appease his brother Esau.

So Esau will like him. So he gets this drove together, puts the space between that one, gets this drove together, puts the space between that one, puts this drove together, tells them all what to say, and so he get Way to the very end. Very in. So all these gifts, all these presents are way in front of him. All right? So by the time he gets there, his brother will be pacified. His brother will be happy when Jacob finally arrives and his brother won't kill him.

That's the whole motive, right? He doesn't want to die. All the while, God said, I will be with you. All the while, God already gave him the host of angels. Right some, Jacob is just not getting the message. And so in his efforts to manipulate his brother, he lacked confidence in God's power to change Esau's heart. You ever been there? You lack confidence in God's power to change your enemy's heart. So what do you do? You figure out a way to change their heart for God. You step in. You got a plan.

You can soften everything. You can make it work. After all, you got creative abilities. After all, you got good drive. After all, you got a good personality. After all, you're a good speaker. After all, you got good gifts. After all, you got lots of money. A You can make it happen. You can make it work. Be that confidence in God's power for it to actually happen. Remember that verse in Psalm 46? Cease striving and know. that I am God. Jacob really doesn't know that the Lord is God. Now he can verbalize it, but he doesn't know it yet.

Because he wants to make it work. So he does all he can to make it happen. So he lacks confidence. And God's power changed Esau's heart. The Bible says, what is not of faith is sin.

That's why the Bible says we're to walk by faith and not by sight. Whenever you walk by sight, you begin to manipulate the events. When you walk by faith, you begin to wait on God to handle the events. Jacob's not walking by faith. He's walking by sight, even though he had a good prayer. This is wake-up time for all of us. Because we get on our knees and we begin to pray, and we get off our knees, and all of a sudden, we begin to manipulate the events. Whether it's in our family, with our children, with our husband, with our wife, at work, at church, wherever we are, whenever we got to face the enemy, we think we've got a better way of handling it.

Than God does because God never works fast enough for us. Not only did he lack confidence in God's power to change Esau's heart, but he lacked concern for God's providence. Listen to this. He has said in verse 18, when Esau asks who these animals are, you shall say to him, These belong to your servant Jacob? Timeout. What was the providence of God? The providence of God was that the older would serve the younger. And he lacked concern for God's providence. God already said that the younger will rule over the older, and Jacob was the younger.

That was God's decreed plan. And that says there's a present sent to my Lord Esau, as if Esau was the ruler and Jacob was the servant. That's not what God said. That's not how God designed it. And it goes on and says, verse 20, your servant Jacob, again. Jacob sees himself as a servant to his older brother when in reality God said, your older brother is going to serve you. He lacked concern for God's providence, for God's plan, for what God had said will happen. Folks, I want to tell you something.

The problem here is not Esau. The problem is Jacob. Esau's not a problem at all. Just because he wants to kill you. I mean, come on. What kind of problem is that? That's not a problem. Jacob's a problem! And so, number three, he lacked conviction about God's protection.

It says in verse 21, so the present passed on before him while he himself spent the night in the camp. H he is going to sleep, trying to spend the night in the camp. And so he sends all these gifts ahead of him in droves, man. One after another, one after another, piled on really, really thick here. And he goes to bed. And then, verse 22: Now he arose that same night and took. His two wives, Rachel and Leah, and his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jacob. And he took them and sent them across the stream, and he sent across whatever he had.

Here's a man who lacked conviction in God's protection. In the middle of the night, he gets his family up, he fords the river, he risks his family's life by taking them across the river in the middle of the night. Because he doesn't think that God can ultimately protect them in spite of the fact that God already said, I will be with you, and God already had sent the angels to him. He lacked any conviction in God's protection. So. God is going to get his attention. And the verse says in verse 24, then Jacob was left al.

Stop right there. We live in a world where aloneness is a bad thing, but in the Bible, it's a good thing. We don't like to be left alone. We don't like quiet. If we don't have our earphones in or something on the radio always going, we've got to have noise, noise, noise, noise, noise because we've got to keep distracted because we can't stop to think about anything. We live in a non-thinking society. Our computers do everything for us. Cell phones do everything for us. Cell phones now even tell you, you know, if you take a picture of your food, it sends back how many calories are on your food so you know what you're eating.

We have cell phones now that get off smells. Our cell phones do everything. We don't have to think to do anything anymore. Next thing you know, Your cell phones are going tell you what to wear when you get up in the morning. It's amazing. We don't think any. We are a non-thinking society. We are in the computer age, the age of technology, which has caused men to be dumb. I hate to say it that way. I don't mean to be negative on you, but that's just the way it is. That's right. See, lots of am's for that, and lots of that's right for that.

See? You know. And so the Bible says, then Jacob was left alone. He was in a place nobody wants to be. But it's a place every needs to be. The last time he was alone, he was in Bethel, the house of God. And there he met the angels of God. And there he became a believing man. This time, he'll become a broken man. And his brokenness will lead to his blessedness. He'll be a changed man forever. The Bible says, Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.

You know, there's nothing in between there. I read that and I kept looking for something in between, alone, and then the next phrase, and the man wrestled with him, but I couldn't find anything. How did that happen? How did all of a sudden he's left alone and now he's wrestling with a guy? Didn he introduce himself? Didn't he ask him, Who are you? How'd you get here? Are you here to kill my family? Who sent you? Did Esau send you? There's no conversation. All of a sudden, he's left alone. Nick's saying, you know, he's wrestling with this man.

Who is this man? This man is the pre-incarnate Christ. How do we know that? Because when it's all said and done, he names the place Pine, which means the face of God. He says very simply this: So Jacob named the place Pine, for he said, I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved. This man is God in the flesh. In fact, listen to the book of Hosea, the 12th chapter. Hosea chapter 12 inter Genesis chapter 32. It says this, verse 3. Or verse 2, the Lord also has a dispute with Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways.

He will repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity he contended or wrestled or battled with God. Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed. He wept and sought his favor. He found him at Bethel. And there he spoke with us. Even the Lord the God of hosts, the Lord is his name. Who is it that he wrestled with in Genesis 32? It was the Lord Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies. That was the man whom he wrestled with. Hosea tells us that he wrestled with the angel of the Lord, the Christophany, the pre-incarnate Christ.

So he was all alone. He begins to wrestle. And the Bible says he wrestled with them until daybreak. That's a long time. Folks, let me tell you something.

That a long thing. You ever been in a wrestling match? You ever seen a wrestling match? They don't last real long because it wears you out. And it says in verse 25. And when he, that is God, saw that he had not prevailed against him, Jacob, he touched the socket of his thigh, so the socket of Jacob's thigh was dislocated while he wrestled. With him. He wrestled with him. God wrestled with Jacob all night. Say, come on, this is God. Why is God, why can't God just do the thing he's going to do? And why has he got to wrestle with him all night?

Because Jacob has to learn a lesson that he has yet to learn. The Bible says in Psalm 103, verse number 9: God will not always str or contend with man.

And here in the loving kindness of God, he allows Jacob to wrestle with him all night. So finally, God says, I got to go.

Then he said, Let me go, for the dawn is breaking. Angel of the Lord says, The dawn's breaking. I got to go, Jake. It's over. But he said, I will not let you go until you bless me. I can't let you go until you bless me. God says, I to go.

I got somebody else. I to break, Jake. I got to go, man. So I going to touch your thigh. I'm going touch your thigh. I'm going to dislocate your thigh so you can't walk. And so now he's no longer wrestling with him. He's clinging to him. Jacob is clinging to him. He can't wrestle with him. You ever had a dislocated thigh? You can't move. You can't stand. Can't squat, can't sit, can't move. It's painful. So he's clinging to the angel of the Lord. They're wrestling all night, you know, and God's, you, beating them off here, you know, beating them off there, you, kicking them here, you, beating them off.

And Jacob just keeps coming at him, keeps com Because Jacob is so arrogant and so prideful, he will not give in. He will not quit because he is stubborn. He is stiff-necked. He is bullheaded. A lot like you and me. He just keeps fighting against God and God keeps flying him away, knocking him right. God says, ah, okay, touch his eye.

Boom. I got to go, Jake. Jacob falls down and clings to him. South Frances, I can't let you go until you bless me. See, that's the difference between Jacob and Esau. Jacob truly wanted God to bless him. Esau didn't care about the blessing of God. But Jacob did. He wanted God to bless. His life. And so he said to him, Oh, this is so good. What is your name? God says to him, what is your name?

Remember we told you, I'll say it to you again, when God asks a question, He doesn't ask it because He needs information. He asks it because you need illumination. Please understand that. God knows everything. And God says, What is your name?

This is so powerful. The last time he was asked that question, what did he say? He said, my name is Esau. Remember that? Twenty years ago. His father asked him, what is your name? And he said, I am Esau. He lied, he deceived. And so God says, What is your name?

And what's he say? He said, Jacob. He said, Jacob. Let's know what God says. He said, your name shall no longer Be Jacob, but Israel. Now, you need to understand this. This is so powerful. This is so rich. This is so great. Jacob's name means supp. He was supplanter by decree And he was a supplanter by deceit. In the spirit, he was supplanted by decree because God said That the older would serve the younger, so the younger would supplant the older one in terms of blessing and leadership by decree by God.

But he is also a supplanter by deceit, because he would deceive his father into giving him the blessing, because he would not wait. On God to do what God would do. In Jacob's whole life up to this point, Was about the manipulation of life's events, of supplanting the p of God in his life, the providence of God in his life to bring about his own purposes because he didn't have time. To wait for God to act, and God says, from this point on, no longer will you be called Jacob, but you will be called Israel.

Meaning, may God str with him. The Bible says. For you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed. This is good. Your whole life, your whole life you have fought against man. You fought against Esau. You fought against Isaac. You fought against Laban. You have fought your whole life against man. And in so doing, you have fought your whole life against me, the God of the universe. But now.

But now you have prevailed. Now you have understood. And now you have become the victor. Because now you have learned the lesson. And the lesson is this. God need to str for you. And is it not true that the whole history of Israel Is wrapped up in them not letting God str for them. Then Jacob asked him, said, Please tell me your name. But he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And he blessed him there. So Jacob named the place Pine, for he said, I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been pres.

Why do you ask me my name? You know who I am. No need to ask. And Jacob, now Israel, understood. I listen.

Now it gets really good. Listen to what the Bible says. Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penu. And he was limping on his th. Therefore, to this day, the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew with a muscle of the hip. which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob's thigh in the muscle of the hip. Listen At Bethel twenty years earlier, Jacob became a believing man. On this day he became a broken man, and with that brokenness came great blessing upon Jacob.

And when Jacob rose that day, he would always limp on his thigh. He would never walk the same again. Because when God touches your life, you never ever walked the same again. That's the whole point. You never walk the same again. And you know what? Everybody who saw Jacob knew something had happened in his life. Why? How? Because God had branded him. The broken man is a branded man. A branded man is a blessed man because God touches the life and changes it. In Israel, may God strive with him, had learned a lesson as to why it is we can prepare for battle and yet continually go down to defeat.

And that is really truly the sixth point of our outline, and that is rel. Upon God. Why is it we go down to feet? Because we are not reliant upon Him. Reliance up God is so cr, for reliance upon God is truly the manner of victory. The manner of victory. And Jacob had to learn to rely upon his God. And unfortunately, that's why we lose the battle. We are obedient to God? Yes. Do we remember what God has done and who He is? Yes. Do we revere His holy name? Yes. Do we sever ourselves from those things that keep us from being all that God wants us to be?

Yes. Do we align ourselves with Him? Are we loyal to Him? Yes. And we get up off our knees and we rush into battle to face the foe without ever relying upon God. to take us each and every step of the way. In every step that Jacob would take for the rest of his life, he would be reminded that he needed to rely solely upon God for his strength. And the moment you go to battle and no longer rely upon him, you will lose. You will lose. Because you can't do it in the flesh. It must be done in the realm of the spirit.

And that's why it's important that we learn to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies, for all things.